Pedagogy & Scholarship

Academic
Portfolio

Teaching journalism, researching its conditions, and writing about how media survives and changes across Bangladesh and South Asia.

school Lecturer · ULAB, Media Studies & Journalism history_edu Journalism Studies · Media Economics · Environmental Communication
school Pedagogy

Teaching & Instruction

Institutional Affiliation

University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh

Department of Media Studies & Journalism Lecturer

Teaching and mentoring undergraduate and postgraduate students as a Lecturer in the Department of Media Studies and Journalism, across core journalism courses and electives spanning digital practice, media history, and environmental communication.

BSS in Media Studies & Journalism Masters in Communication
Syllabus Modules
MSJ 2251 / Digital Journalism Major

Journalism and Society

add

From the origins of the press to today's digital newsrooms, this course explores how journalism shapes and is shaped by society, covering news writing, media ideologies, production processes, source dynamics, audience behavior, ethics, and global news flows.

Core Syllabus Themes:
  • Journalism Terminologies
  • Reporting Basics
  • News Production Processes
  • Ethics and Professionalism
MSJ 2252 / Digital Journalism Major

Digital Audience

add

The advent of Information and Communication Technologies has reshaped how media organizations produce, distribute, and connect with audiences. This course examines the digital audience: who they are, how they behave, and why monitoring their engagement matters, covering audience theory, social psychology, and how community and consumption patterns converge across platforms and industries.

Core Syllabus Themes:
  • Audience Theory and Concepts
  • Audience Research Methods
  • Audience Analytics and Monitoring
  • Ethics and Engagement
open_in_new Visit Course Site
MSJ 3151 / Digital Journalism Major

News Sourcing and Gathering

add

A hands-on course in the craft of reporting, covering how journalists find stories, identify and interview sources, cover events, verify facts, use AI tools, and navigate ethical challenges in today's fast-moving news environment.

Core Syllabus Themes:
  • Source Identification & Mapping
  • Interviewing Techniques
  • Fact-Checking & Verification
  • Beat-Based Field Reporting
MSJ 4162 / Communication for Development Major

Environmental Communication

add

This course unpacks how environmental issues are communicated across media, politics, and culture, covering climate justice, advocacy campaigns, global conferences, environmental laws, green marketing, and the evolving role of journalism in the climate crisis.

Core Syllabus Themes:
  • Environmental Advocacy Campaigns
  • Environmental Journalism
  • Environmental Policies and Laws
  • Environment & Development
SSC 3254 / General Education

History of Bangladeshi Media

add

From the colonial-era Bengali press to today's social media landscape, this course traces the defining chapters of Bangladesh's media history, covering newspaper growth, radio, television, digital platforms, the blogosphere, and media legislation.

Core Syllabus Themes:
  • Colonial Press Legacy
  • Military-Era Media
  • Satellite TV Boom
  • Digital & Social Media
menu_book Scholarship

Research Focus & Publications

Primary Research Focus
auto_stories

Journalism Studies

Investigating newsroom dynamics, reporting precarity, editorial independence, and press autonomy in Bangladeshi and South Asian media environments.

webhook

Media Sociology

Examining how politics, society, and technologies influence media production, journalist identity, and audience behavior in Bangladesh.

query_stats

Media Economics

Analyzing ownership concentration, advertising dependency, revenue models, and financial pressures shaping Bangladeshi media industries.

Publications
2025 Translation & Commentary

Newsfluencer: The Intersection of Online Content Production and Platform-Based Journalism

Nirikkha Issue 254/Press Institute Bangladesh (PIB)

A Bangla translation and contextual adaptation of Edward Hurcombe's conceptual article "Conceptualising the Newsfluencer", published in Nirikkha (Issue 254) by the Press Institute Bangladesh. The article traces the rise of platformised news creators who operate according to the economic and cultural logics of online influencer culture.

Abstract

"Journalists and other news content creators are negotiating with participatory platforms and entrepreneurial business models. This conceptual article defines and traces the rise of “newsfluencers”: platformatised creators who operate according to the economic and cultural logics of online influencers to produce news content for participatory audiences. Newsfluencers encompass self-employed journalists as well as Substack writers, journalistic YouTubers and TikTokers, and Twitch streamers. This article explicates newsfluencers across four intersecting dimensions: platforms, business models, labour, and cultures. In doing so, the article demonstrates how the news industry, influencer and fandom cultures, platforms, and the creator economy are interconnecting with and transforming each other."

description Read the Paper
2026 Journal Article Under Review

Examining Audiences' Willingness to Pay for Online News in Bangladesh: Towards A Subscription Model

World of Media

Islam, M.A., Tabassum, M., & Rafid, U.

An empirical study examining audience attitudes toward paying for digital news in Bangladesh, and the conditions under which a subscription model might become viable.

2026 Journal Article Under Review

Willingness vs. Ability: AI Adoption, Resource Constraints, and Journalistic Practices in Bangladesh's National and Local Newsrooms

Journalism Practice

Al-Zaman, M.S. & Rafid, U.

A newsroom-level study of how AI tools are being adopted and resisted by journalists in Bangladesh's national and local news outlets, examining the gap between willingness and structural capacity.

Works in Progress

Active Research Pipeline

0 Journal Articles
0 Book Manuscript
record_voice_over Engagement

Talks & Panels

Usama Rafid speaking at the Platform Society Curriculum Integration Forum at ULAB

Platform Society: How Digital Platforms Shape Everyday Life

Curriculum Integration Forum Summer 2026 | ULABMSJ

14 June 2026

A talk delivered at the ULAB MSJ Curriculum Integration Forum on how digital platforms reshape media, public life, and society, with a focus on implications for the Global South.

newspaper News Coverage slideshow View the Slide
co_present Facilitation

Workshops & Training

Feature Reporting workshop facilitated by Usama Rafid for The ULABian campus newspaper apprenticeship program

Feature Reporting Workshop

The ULABian | Campus Newspaper Apprenticeship Programme

18 June 2026

A workshop on feature reporting arranged by The ULABian, ULAB's campus newspaper apprenticeship programme, equipping student journalists with the skills and frameworks for long-form, narrative-driven journalism.

Usama Rafid facilitating the Youth Connect Digital Citizenship and Misinformation Resilience Training

Digital Citizenship and Misinformation Resilience Training 2025

Youth Connect | British Council

5 December 2025

A British Council supported training programme equipping young people with digital citizenship skills and practical tools to identify, analyse, and resist online misinformation.

newspaper Press Release